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Home , Benincaseae, Carosello (melon), Citrullus, Citrullus colocynthis, Coccinia grandis, Cucumis

Cucurbitaceae (with an emphasis on the Old World) DQF 24.i.2008-rev2

Figure 7.1. Cucurbit crop species: cucumerina var. anguina (after Rumphius), siceraria (after Rumphius), sativus (after Rheede), lanatus (after Rumphius)

Cucurbitaceae ( after Jeffrey via Walters 1989)

Tribe Melothrieae L. subsp. agrestis wild (Near East through Central to , formerly Yangzte(?) and (?)) Multiple domestications C. melo ssp. melo domesticated . Includes sweet and types. 甜瓜 tian guā (‘sweet gua’); 菜瓜 cai guā (‘vegetable gua’). Probable separate domestications in Subsaharan , /Near East, South , Lower Yangzte, Japan(?) C. sativus L. sativus domesticated . 黄瓜 huang guā (‘‘yellow gua’’) C. sativus ssp. hardwickii wild progenitor in western Himalayan foothills

Melothria heterophylla (Lour.) Cogn. (syn. heterophylla Lour.) Mouse cucumber: India, , S. , Taiwan. Melothira types found archaeologically in ; spp. found on Jomon sites in Japan. Also native Melothria spp. in the New World

Tribe Joliffieae Subtribe Thladianthinae L., bitter or bitter cucumber, cultivated throughout the tropics; two doestications: Himalayas (India/), and Yunnan, China (Marr et al. 2005, Economic Botany) Wild= subsp. abbreviata Ser.. groups, divided on the basis of size, into minima and maxima. Chinese 苦瓜 ku guā M. balsamina L., a pantropical of dry areas which can also be eaten (Reyes et al 1993). Indian origin M. cochinchinensis (Loureiro) Sprengel, sweet gourd or spiny bitter cucumber, a -tuberous perennial, is grown widely in mainland and island southeast Asia, as well as China and Japan, and occurs in the wild throughout much of this range, but appears absent from Java (Reyes et al. 1993). Chakravarty 1959: Burma, , : Chittagong, Garjania, Khulna and Jessore, Madras, one collection by Wright no. 1130 Kew from Madras. Chinese 木鳖子 mu bie zi M. subangulata Blume, and known as kamas; in Southern Thailand as phakmae is used from wild populations, distributed in mainland Southeast Asia and Java, and a little in India (Chkaravarty 1959). Chinese 凹萼木鳖 ao e mu bie M. dioecia Roxb. ex Willd. A root-tuberous perennial. Extends from Burma and Yunnan through India, partially cultivated in some parts of India for (Chakravarty 1959). Chinese 云南木鳖 yun nan mu bie

Subtribe Telfairinae pedata (Sm. ex Sims) Hook, Zanzibar oilvine, oyster nut. Cultivated in East Africa for oily .

Tribe Trichosantheae L. var. anguina (L.) Haines snake gourd (domesticated), cultivated India, China, SE Asia. Chinese 蛇瓜 she gua; Thai būap ngū Trichosanthes cucumerina L. var. cucumerina wild snake gourd, India, Yunnan, Burma, mainland Southeast Asia Trichosanthes globosa Blume; another species also called “snake gourd”, wild but eaten in (syn. Trichosanthes cucumeroides (Ser.) Maxim.) Roxb., pointed gourd, palwal, South Asia Trichosanthes tricuspidata Lour. Reported to be eaten; wild from India through Guizhou, mainland & island Southeast Asia Other wild species include: T. quinquangulata A. Gray [mainland Southeast Asia, Yunnan]; T. globosa Blume [Indonesia]; T. rosthornii Harms (south China); T. villosa Blume [southwest China, mainland and island Southeast Asia]

Hodgsonia macrocarpa (Blume) Cogn. Chinese lard-fruit. South China through SE Asia. Oily seeds & edible fruits. Chinese you zha guo 油渣果

Tribe Subtribe Luffinae acutangula (L.) Roxb., ridge loofah, domesticated India. Ch. 丝瓜 si gua; Thai Būap liem Mill. (syn. L. cylindrica M. Roem.) sponge loofah; also cultivated as vegetable; domesticated twice, South Asia (Himlayan foothills, Yunnan South China. Ch. 广东丝瓜 Guangdong si gua; Thai Būap kom

Subtribe Benincasinae [see Walters and Decker-Walters in Econ Bot 1989: 274-8] Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn., the , winter melon; important in China and Japan. Native to Southern China/ Yunnan/ maybe eastern India Four cultivar groups: Unridged winter melon, rindged winter melon, fuzzy gourd, wax gourd, Moderately dry lowland tropics, up 1000m, optimal growth 23-28 C temp. Mature fruits 100- 160 days after sowing. Chinese 冬瓜 dong gua; Vietnam bi dao; Thai fak kio

Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai water melon. Origins Africa, (?); advanced large, sweet juicy forms may have been developed in India and dispersed in Arab period. Cultivar= subsp. lanatus. 西瓜 xi gua ‘Western gua’ Progenitor: Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai var. citroides (L. H. Bailey) Mansf. Currently wild in Southern part of Africa; formerly in Sahara(?) (L.) Schrad. Colocynth dist includes wild in Western and Central India though Sahara and Sahel. May have been cultivated or collected for the seeds. Citrullus ecirrhosus Cogn. Tsama melon, collected wild by Namib hunter-gatherers

Coccinia grandis (L.) Voight ivy gourd, little gourd, kundee, tindora

Praecitrullus fistulosus (Stocks) Pangalo squash-melon, round melon (). Cultivated in India &

Lagenaria siceraria L. - The bottle gourd, originally wild only in Africa(?); 4 other wild species in Africa in . Widely translocated and cultivated(?) since Palaeolithic times. Chinese 葫芦 hu lu

Tribe Cucurbiteae (New World squashes, introduced post-Colombus) e.g. anyrosperma C. Huber Mesoamerican Cucurbita ficifolia Bouché Black- squash, chilacayote Latin America Cucurbuta maxima Duchesne great pumpkin, , Native southern South Ameirca Cucurbita pepo L. Messamerica, most squash varieties, common pumpkin; with seperate Eastern North American domesticate (from wild var. ozarkiana)

Consumption matrix for cucurbits Eaten immature Eaten mature Eaten (mainly) raw Cucumis sativus, grandis Cucumis melo, Citrullus lanatus Eaten (mainly) cooked Luffa cylindrica, Luffa acutangula, Benincasa hispida, Cucurbita spp., Momordica charantia, Momordica Cucumis melo (vegetable varieties) dioecia, Lagenaria siceraria (extra immature), Trichosanthes cucumerina, Seeds eaten roasted/ processed for Cucurbita spp., Citrullus spp., oil , macrocarpa

Bibliography Bates, D. M. and R. W. Robinson (1995). , melons and water-melons. In: Smart and Simmonds (eds) Evolution of Crop , second edition. Longman, Harlow. Pp. 89-96

Dane, F. and Jiarong Liu (2007) Diversity and origin of cultivated and citron type (Citrullus lanatus). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 54(6): 1255-1265

Decker-Walters, D. S. (1999) Cucurbits, and the Indo-Aryans. Economic Botany 53(1): 98-112

Decker-Walters, D. S., M. Wilkins-Ellert, Sang-min Chung and J. E. Staub (2004) Discovery and Genetic Assessment of Wild Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria Siceraria (Mol.) Standley; Cucurbitaceae] from Zimbabwe. Economic Botany 58(4): 501-508

Erikson, D. L., B. D. Smith, A. C. Clarke, D. H. Sandweiss and N. Tuross (2005) An Asian origin for a 10,000- year-old domesticated in the Americas. PNAS 102(51): 18315-18320

Hammer, K., P. Hanelt and P. Perrino (1986) and the taxonomy of Cucumis melo L. especially its vegetable races. Kulturpflanze 34: 249-259

Janick, J., H. S. Parris and D. C. Parrish (2007) The cucurbits of Mediterranean antiquity: identification of taxa from ancient images and descriptions. Annals of Botany 100: 1441-1457

Jeffrey, C. (1967). Flora of Tropcial East Africa. Cucurbitaceae (eds. E. Milne-redhead & R. M. Polhill). London: Crown Agents for Overseas Governments.

Jeffrey, C. (2001). Cucurbitaceae. In: Hanelt, P. and Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Resources (eds) Mansfield’s Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticulttural Plants. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. P. 1520. Also on-line

Keraudren-Aymonin, M. 1975. Cucurbitacées, Vol. 15 in Aubreville, A. and Leroy, J.-F. (ed.) Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viet-Nam. Paris: Muséum National D’Histoire Naturelle

Lira, R. and J. Cabellero (1990) Ethnobotany of the Wild Mexican Cucurbitaceae. Economic Botany 56(4): 380– 398

Marr, K. L., Bhattarai, N., & Xia, Y.-M. (2005b). Allozymic, morphological, and phenological diversity of cultivated Luffa acutangula (Cucurbitaceae) from China, Laos, and Nepal, and Allozyme divergence between L. acutangula and L. aegyptiaca. Economic Botany, 59(2), 154–165.

Marr, K. L., Mei, X. Y., & Bhattarai, N. (2004). Allozyme, morphological and nutritional analysis bearing on the domestication of Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) from China, Laos, and Nepal. Economic Botany, 58(3), 435–455.

Marr, K. L., Xia, Y.-M., & Bhattarai, N. (2005a). Allozymic, morphological, phenological, linguistic, plant use, and nutritional data on wild and cultivated collections of Luffa aegyptiaca Mill. (Cucurbitaceae) from Nepal, Southern China, and Northern Laos. Economic Botany, 59(2), 137–153.

Matthews, P. J. (2003) Identification of Benincasa Hispida (Wax Gourd) from the Kana Archaeological Site, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania 38: 186-191

Stol, M. (1987) The cucurbitaceae in the cuneiform texts, Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 3: 81-92

Tanaka, K., A. Nishitani, Y. Akashi, Y. Sakata, H. Nishida, H. Yoshino, K. Kato (2007) Molecular characterization of South and East Asian melon, Cucumis melo L., and the origin of Group Conomon var. makuwa and var. conomon revealed by RAPD analysis. Euphytica 153: 233-247

Walters, T. W. (1989) Historical overview on domesticated plants in China with special emphasis on the Cucurbitaceae. Economic Botany 43 (3): 297-313

Wasylikowa, K. and Van der Veen, M. (2004) An archaeobotanical contribution to the history of watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 13(4): 213-217

Yang, S. and T. W. Walters (1992) Ethnobotany and the economic role of the cucurbitaceae of China. Economic Botany 46: 349-367

Zheng, Y. and X. Chen (2006) The archaeological study of the origin of melon, based on unearthed seeds from the Lower Yangzte. In Zhejinag Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (ed.) Remembering 70 years since the discovery of Liangzhu. Beijing: Wenwu Press. 578-585 [in Chinese]

For Indian names of , see also Table 1 in Fuller, D. Q (2006). Silence before sedentism and the advent of cash-crops: A status report on early agriculture in South Asia from plant domestication to the development of political economies (with an excursus on the problem of semantic shift among millets and rice). In Osada, T. (eds.), Proceedings of the Pre-Symposium of RIHN and 7th ESCA Harvard- Kyoto Roundtable, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto , pp. 175-213

Citrullus colocynthis from Sayre (1917) Materia medica

Citrullus lanatus seed apex, charred from Essouk, Mali

Melothria sp. type from Southern Neolithic Hallur (after Fuller et al 2004, mis-reported as Cucumis sp.!)

Charred Cucumis melo from Longshan Baligang SEM of modern Cucumis melo seed tip